This was a fun one – it’s a virtual choir of alumni from my old church youth choir singing the Lindley arrangement of Now the Green Blade Riseth. I was asked to help out on tech for this project, so in addition to singing and playing trombone on it, I also mixed the audio and created the video.

The trombone part is interesting. I wanted to add some brass, but given the timeframe, I was the only person who could do it. The accompaniment is in 4 parts with some quite high notes (up in the trumpet range), so I played all four parts down in the trombone range, then when I mixed them, I went in and shifted those parts up an octave (or two). It’s not a perfect solution, but I think it turned out pretty nice. The video part was also interesting to work on – I hadn’t done anything like that before, so after trying (and failing) to get it working in Blender, I did some searching and found VSCD, which worked a treat.
Continue reading “Now the Green Blade Riseth” →

Recently, I was in a production of the musical All Shook Up, which was put on by the Canby Community Theater. Musicals are interesting things for musicians – you can be onstage or hidden away in a pit, in costume or not, but either way you have to play along with the actors, so it’s never exactly the same show. One night, this person could be slightly rushing their lines, and the next, someone else is milking it more than usual, but we have to roll with it. The rehearsal schedules are weird, too – usually, there are daily rehearsals for the week or two beforehand, then 6 or 7 shows over a couple of weekends. Even though it can be a pain, I really enjoy playing them. I got my feet wet with Urinetown (ehrm, maybe I should rephase that…) back in college, then a production of The Drowsy Chaperone last year, and now All Shook Up.
Continue reading “All Shook Up” →